Sunday, July 23, 2006

Sway it with PCD

You are absolutely right, he is Jose "Sway" Penala, the only Fil-Am American Idol finalist who made it on the top 24 season 5.

He is here in Manila to join the PussyCat Dolls on their one night only first ever Manila concert in Araneta Coliseum on July 28, that would be next week Friday.

Together with them are MIKEY BUSTOS, another Fil-Canadian finalist in the Canadian Idol 2003 edition, and HONORé (honor-ray), a songwriter/singer/producer, originally from Altadena, California of ethnic descent (Creole and Filipino).

I actually saw these three promoting the concert earlier at Eat Bulaga.

I llloovee to see PCD in person performing live, sigh, but it is not possible for me coz Hubby is absent. I'll just wait for the DVD pirated copy of it, hehe.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Blessings in Disguise

Well, let me start by sharing a not so good beat. I called up BPI yesterday about the rebate of the said "insufficient fund fee" they charged us, amounting to 6k to our current account. It was daunting the demand was rebuffed, by what was claimed by the Manager, spurned by their immediate Directors. No considerations at all. Or even just charge us with a minimal fee (and not a beefy 6k), would be okay perhaps. But it turned out otherwise.

Oh well, how inconsiderate BPI is, what can I do? Life, that is! Sometimes fair, sometimes not, hahaha! I might as well just talk to Banco De Oro if they can upgrade our savings account to current so we can transfer our money right away, as in now na! hehe.

Anyhow, we easily worn-off our fuming disgust against BPI. You know why? Coz the recent outpouring of blessings are far more than the amount we lost. Like what I said to my husband "di bale, babalik din yan, doble pa", and in a snap of the finger, God gave us more than what we asked.

We must have done something good in our life, that God have been providing for us since the day one. Things are vividly leaning to our favor now, after a while. He really gives what you deserve, in His own pace, in His own perfect time. Life is at times unfair, but God will always be fair.

Anyway, so long BPI, thanks for the unhappy thoughts you bestowed to us, hahaha! Sayang, I just bought a new checkbook pa naman, nautakan na naman nila ko, grrrrr... :)

Saturday, July 15, 2006

Princess Lulu is Back

Hell yeah, I'm just so happy that she is finally back! Princess Lulu replay by request started last Monday, in its newest timeslot 1130am after Homeboy, or before Game Ka Na Ba. I now catched-up the first few episodes I missed before, which I thought I wouldn't see ever, hehehe.

I don't know, I'm watching this program for the second time, and all along, I'm still moved by the charisma of the three leading artists (Lulu, Marco, and Stephen), and mesmerized with the characters on portray (kilig!)

Sus, pagbigyan nyo na ko noh. This is a must-see series for a house-band like me I guess. Coz in every melancholia attack, hah, trust me, Lulu's feel-good and kilig factors, are sanity savers! Hahaha! I'm sure you gonna love her too!

Friday, July 14, 2006

WEATHER I like it or not ....

Its been raining for days. Thanks to typhoon Florita, classes were suspended (Jett got to play with his Ate Patricia), and we were not turning on the air-con for the past two days, neither at naps or at nights, we are using electric fan instead. An energy-saver for sure. We are paying an average of P4+++ every month on our power consumption, and for a small abode like ours, hefty that is. Hah!

On the other hand, there are donwnsides of this downpouring season. Jett is home-confined since it is always raining, he cannot play and wander around the neighborhood. He's been watching videos reiteratively all day. His fave disc this time, are buddies Woody and Buzz, the TOY STORY part 2. He even already mastered the lines, the haps, and the actions, hehe. He just junked pile the movie CARS as his latest video craze. He found it stereotyped after frequent plays. Well, what do you expect? Kids easily got fed-up.

On a lightless note, our sympathies to those people who lost lives or family members due to typhoon Florita. It is just so sad that this government still and will always lack of pre-emptive measures during this ordeal. Albeit the awareness that we are one of the most hard-hit countries troubled by typhoons. A distress we were left with no choice, but to face through. WEATHER we like it, or not.

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Finally, they arrived!

At last, the long wait is over! The HMO cards are finally here. I've been waiting for this for sometime now. Well, the problem was, I was tossed-up between Maxicare and Medicard (we settled with the latter), and the responses are taking a while for my queries since my only means are sms and e-mail (here in Marilao). And the marketing people nowadays, are happened to be outdated, whew!

I have my own life-hospital-accident insurance all in one. The deal was kinda give-away, 10years to pay with 20years coverage and double the coverage on the 10th year onwards, so it was really worth the purchase. Well, if you are interested, just email or ym me okay? hahaha! Ooops, I'm not an agent okay?

Anyway, I therefore spared myself as included in the HMO dependents since I'm already covered. I only avail Jett and hubby for the health care coverage. FYI, hubby's company doesn't offer such privilege. You know, they just work, and they got paid, no strings attached, and that's that. So the lesser the dependents, the lesser the HMO premium we have to pay through our own.

For now, I turned complacent, that bills are the least of our concern when it comes to our wellness. I strongly feel that every household members should have one, coz you can never tell...

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Mommy Moment

Much to my delight, Jett is now officially "toilet-trained" at 2.5 years, yehey!!! After one week of training and rarely had a missed or accidents, Jett is now voluntarily using the toilet. And take note, he is using the 'big' toilet, and not the small pot or the potty chair (he was scared to it).

My pre-conceived notion about this milestone is, it gonna take time, but my son proved me otherwise. He easily got the hang of it. Well maybe, I'm a strict teacher, haha! I just explained to him that he is now a big boy, and should be using the toilet already, like grown-ups do. And from that instance on, I started his day nappy-free (except at night of course).

It doesn't interest me at all if Jett's toilet learning is early nor delayed. But I found the potty-readiness to my son as what mentioned by A. Eisenberg et.al., in the book What To Expect The Toddler Years:- Psychological readiness- Bowel movements regularity- Increase awareness of the pertinent bodily functions- An interest in neatness and in being clean and dry- An understanding of key concepts: the difference between wet and dry, clean and dirty, up and down- Familiarity with the toilet terminology used in your household, whatever it may be- The ability to communicate needs and to understand and follow simple directions- An interest in wearing underpants instead of nappies- The ability to do some simple self-dressing- Curiosity about the bathroom habits of others

Like earlier before sleepy time, right after his milk. While I was doing my own bedtime routine (myself first and Jett after), I was inside the bathroom. When I was done, I saw him sitting on the floor very quiet. That was odd, coz you would see my son climbing the windows, running around, waking up Ate Patricia (my niece), or playing his toy cars, but not idling in just one corner of the room. It seems like he was actually waiting for me to go out from the bathroom. I asked him "What's wrong?", and he told me "Mommy poo-poo." That's it! He was putting in a halt the poop to come-out, since I'm using the toilet, he just sat down and waited for me to finish (hmmm, clever boy!). He really hates himself getting wet or getting unclean. You will in fact hear him cracking a "Yuck!" or "Eeooww!" hahaha!

I'm just so happy and proud that at least, he is nappy-less before he reach his 3rd birthday! Way to go son! Dad and Mom are so proud of you!

Friday, July 07, 2006

Rants. Rants. Rants

This is the story.

More than a week back when, we opted to place our savings on a Time Deposit that will give us guaranteed return for the meantime. That is to regain our lost of more or less 1.7% from a placement in UITF (which turned stable now after the "second quarter storm"). As we all know, the 2nd quarter of this year was on the rocks prior to US Fed Reserve announcement of raising interest rates which turned the market volatile for the past weeks. Oh well, like what the traders said, 'When the US sneezes, the whole world get the colds'.

Back to my story.

I issued a check for the said time deposit as the usual. I know my fund was 5% short on that very moment I'm signing the check, but I bother not, coz I have the cash in me to be on deposit later, since the clearing will take 2-3days at that. After the transaction, off-we-go back home in Marilao (FCB is in Ortigas).

Now this is another story.

The next day, around 1730, I went to BPI Marilao branch to make a deposit. Not on the counter since banking hour is already due, but on their atm machine that offers deposit collections. What happened was, the deposit envelope got stocked on the slot itself, which made the machine unavaible for envelope collection. What freaked me out more was the monitor saying the transaction was unsuccessful, but the slot was already closed no matter how many times I was trying to make another transaction, taking chances it will re-open so I can push forward the envelope or pull it back. That was the time I heed for help from the bank guard. He didn't know what was going on as well, so the least I could ask from him, was a calling card of the branch and the person in charge in operating the machine.

Then again, I have a check for clearing the next day, I moved to SM Marilao (another one ride away) instead (where I usually do the deposits on machine hassle-free). I deposited two envelopes, and since the machine is new, it slided swiftly inside, got my receipts, and done my transactions.

Early morning the next day, I went back to BPI Marilao about the stocked-up envelope. My heart pounded doubled when they told me they did not get the envelope of mine. I insisted them to open the machine, and when they do, the envelope was still on the slot, right where I left it, just after the closing lid. The employee told me good thing the slot did not open, or else... Wheh! That was close!

And this story is the rant of all my rants.

That very morning, few minutes before I left to BPI Marilao (regarding the stocked-envelope), BPI C-3/A. Mabini branch (that is our accounts' branch), called me about the previous issued check. And told me I have insufficient fund. I answered them I have deposited the fund the day before which will be credited that day. And then he told me, okay, they will just wait.

Tuesday, we were on my in-laws, I chanced upon visiting our BPI branch in Caloocan and get my previous monthly statements up to date. But then, I only had the time to review them yesterday. Much to my surprise, as I was reconciling my checkbook, there is this certain P6000 debited to our account that really made me frowned frown.

I immediately called the phonebanker and found out that BPI collected fee for insufficient check fund. What???!!! That was really unbelievable! I told the phonebanker, coz I have more than sufficient fund which clearly shows on my statement of account, that on the day the check cleared, was also the same day my deposits were credited. The phonebanker advised me to give a ring my branch banker instead, which I did right away.

They explained that, that damn "automated system" (quote and quote), did the automatic back payment of that 6k fee coz my deposits were credited, yes on the same day, but late afternoon. I was really on my battle mood already and no way to tame mo, so I answered him, "That is not my darn business! Your policy vividly stated even posted on your machines, that deposit transactions made in atm after 3:00pm will be credited the next banking day. So it is not my fault that you credited the money later in the afternoon. That is purely non of my concern alright!". He just told me to write a written complaint about the matter, but I negate the idea right away, "Why do I have to make a letter? I do no wrong, I did not turn my back on my obligations issuing checks. Mine didn't lack funds, never! That is an internal issue, and internal issues should be dealth with in your own system." I capped-off the conversation telling them that if we will not be getting our money back, I gonna pull-out all our savings on their bank. He then promised the manager will just make the letter himself for an appeal, and will do their best on the issue, and get back to them on Monday for the feedback.

Hmp! One day after, I'm still raging my protest. This is a hap that I hardly gave any thought to. I mean, we maintain 4 banks, but we settled our money with BPI for its widest coverage, we are not so deserve this.

I gonna have to wait until Monday. But what if I can no longer get the money back? Is there more, or least I can do? Damn! Really damn! Pardon me, but I just really need to vent this out, hmp!